Stand-offish describes a person who keeps a distance from other people — polite enough, but cold. They do not chat, they do not smile much, they answer your question and stop. Nothing rude has happened, and yet you feel pushed away. That feeling is the whole word. Picture someone standing off to one side of the room instead of joining the group: that is the picture inside the spelling. It is not the same as shy. A shy person wants to come closer but is afraid; a stand-offish person looks like they have chosen not to. And that is why the word carries a small complaint in it — it is what you say when you are a little hurt, or a little annoyed. "His new girlfriend was a bit stand-offish." "Don't be so stand-offish, come and sit with us." Here is the honest part, though. Very often the person is not cold at all — they are nervous, or tired, or simply new and do not know how to join in. Stand-offish describes how they come across, not what is really inside them. So it is a judgement made from outside, and it is often wrong. Good speakers soften it: "She seemed stand-offish at first, but she's actually lovely." That "at first" is doing kind work. It is an adjective, and it is quite British-sounding, though Americans use it too. You will see it written both stand-offish and standoffish; both are fine. It usually comes with a softener — "a bit", "rather", "a little" — because saying someone is flatly stand-offish is a strong thing to say about a person.

冷淡的、愛擺架子的、不太理人的。指人客氣但有距離感，讓你覺得他不想跟你熟。注意這是帶點抱怨的說法，而且常常是誤會——對方可能只是害羞或緊張。